


All Because of a Fall

by Caffeine_and_CompSci



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: Alfred Pennyworth is the Best, Angst, Batfamily, Batfamily (DCU), Batman’s A+ parenting, Bruce Wayne Tries to Be a Good Parent, Bruce Wayne is Batman, Damian Wayne is Robin, Dick Grayson is Nightwing, Gen, Suicidal Thoughts, Tim Drake Angst, Tim Drake Needs a Hug, Tim Drake is Red Robin, Tim Drake's Missing Spleen, Tim Drake-centric
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-19 05:13:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 2,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29745504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caffeine_and_CompSci/pseuds/Caffeine_and_CompSci
Summary: Tim drake fell off a building.Again.
Relationships: Bruce Wayne & Damian Wayne, Dick Grayson & Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson & Damian Wayne, Tim Drake & Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake & Dick Grayson, Tim Drake & Prudence Wood
Comments: 26
Kudos: 336





	1. The Fall

**Author's Note:**

> Hey Guys! 
> 
> I haven’t done this in a while but I’m trying to get back into writing. I wrote about half of this fic today and I’m going to try to write the other half next weekend. 
> 
> Chapters are going to be pretty short. 
> 
> Thanks for reading! Pls comment or leave kudos. They’re really encouraging.

Tim was falling again.

After a long career as a vigilante, the feeling wasn’t unfamiliar. A long drop as your stomach tumbled and then a calm as he would swing up a practiced arm to eject his grapple. Then there’s be a jolt, a tug, and he would be careening through the air in a direction of his choice, flying like only robins knew how to.

_ (And batgirls but batgirls were goddesses among man and were therefore exempt from such competitions) _

In any case, Tim wasn’t really concerned about falling. He was concerned about the impact.

You see this time he didn’t have his grapple.

As a Robin, this would have been concerning but not unmanageable. The Dark Knight would never allow one of _his_ birds to fall. Unfortunately, Tim no longer had such a safety net.

He was Red Robin now. He was on his own.

Batman and Robin were across the city, Nightwing was in Blüdhaven, and Jason would still rather watch him splat than help him.

But that was beside the point. The point was that Tim wasn’t sure if he wanted to be saved. He wasn’t sure if it was worth the effort.

And so, Tim twisted to face the sky, and closed his eyes. 


	2. The Catch

Prudence was honestly done. All she wanted was to find Tim, make cruddy popcorn, watch crappy movies, and rant about her latest fuck up of a job.

Alas, the asshole couldn’t even be bothered to be home when she broke in.

Rude.

But this was Gotham and he was a bat. Prudence toyed with the idea of waiting for him in his apartment before heaving a sigh and staggering toward the window. Boss was weird about surprises, probably better to find him on patrol.

She was swinging around town when a flash of red caught her eye. A tumbling bird, falling from a skyscraper.

She waited for him to catch himself.

And waited.

And waited.

Fuck it.

She caught him just as he closed his eyes. Upon a closer look, he seemingly passed out from the nasty gash across his front.

Damn okay. 

She stood on the rooftop, bleeding bird, no medical supplies, and no backup. Red would know what to do. Red would have stashes, would have known where to get first aid, would know people to contact and how to contact them.

Pru could only think of one.

Boss was gonna kill her.

She popped the little comm link out of his ear and activated it.

“Oracle?”

There was a pause.

“This is she” came the distorted voice over the radio. “Who are you and why are you on this channel?”

“I’m someone keeping a bleeding bird from bleeding out on top of the old Morretti building on fifth. Interrogate later, first aid now.”

Prudence could hear the mad smashing of keys as Oracle came on again, worried and darkly angry through the distortion. “I don’t know who this is or what your game is but if you’ve hurt him—“

“—Alpha Delta Epsilon 3-9-8-4” Prudence rattled off, the bat code for _friendly in the know_.

Oracle immediately switched tones “Medivac is 8 minutes out. What’s his status?”

From there on out, Prudence went on autopilot, keeping pressure on the wound, keeping the Oracle updated with a medical information and praying to all the gods she didn’t believe in that Red would still be breathing when they got there. 


	3. The Brother

Dick was having a bad night. Three weeks of being back in Blüd after months as Gotham’s dark night and he was having trouble readjusting.

He was relieved to be back in his colors but the transition was giving him culture shock. He missed Alfred. He missed Tim. Most of all, he missed Damian.

He’d promised to take Dami out to the circus before Bruce had come back. A day to share with his brother where he came from. They’d bought tickets for tomorrow and he was going to take Damian out if it killed him. 

They deserved it goddamnit.

After the fifth _mugging victim_ who’d asked him where he’d been, Dick decided to call it a night.

Without bothering to change into his civies, Dick started driving towards Gotham.

He’d just reached the city limits when his car radio turned on.

“Nightwing?” Oracle’s voice crackled through the speakers. “Red Robin needs immediate medical assistance. You’re the closest. Roof of the Morretti building on fifth. Alpha Delta Epsilon 3-9-8-4. Put your damn comm in.”

Shoving his worries down, Dick shoved the device in his ear as the radio clicked off. “N responding. Eight minutes out. What’s his status?” 

As Dick freaked out about _“god-not-another-one. Not my-little-brother. God-please-not-again,”_ Nightwing sped off to the location.

He channeled his inner bat. Cool professionalism and compartmentalizing. Don’t think about the blood on your gloves. Don’t think about where it came from. Do the job. 

Tim was going be okay. He had to be.


	4. The Assasin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I know I said I’d probably finish by Saturday but in my defense, I’m a college student with maxed out credits, a part time job, and it was my sister’s birthday the other day so I’ve been kinda busy. 
> 
> I’m going to shoot for at least one update a week but my schedule’s kinda hectic so don’t quote me on that. 
> 
> Enjoy!

When Batman got back to the cave with Robin, the first thing he saw was the green flickering light over the door of the medbay. Bruce’s stomach dropped like a stone.

It was a policy instituted in the early days of Robin. Whenever Leslie was around to patch up serious injuries, Bats had a habit of crowding the surgical suite, worried out of their minds and punching walls.

The light meant “I’m busy. Go punch a training dummy. If you come in this room, you’ll distract me and your son might die.”

Allowing Bruce to panic, the Batman took stock. 

Nightwing and an unknown stood by the computer, stuck in a terse silence as the unknown wiped blood off her hands and Nightwing fiddled anxiously with a batarang. 

“Report,” snapped the Batman as Bruce winced at his tone. Nightwing however, responded in clipped, cool sentences. 

“Red Robin attacked by multiple aggressors. Sustained grievous injuries and fell from a skyscraper. He was caught by the 3-9-8-4 who performed basic first aid atop the Morretti building on 5th until I arrived to evac to the cave.”

Three short sentences to explain why one of his boys was fighting for his life in the next room. Three short sentences with not enough information to sate his desperate need to understand why his son almost bled out. Almost fell to his death. 

“Tch, trust Drake to be so incompetent he nearly gets himself killed on a slow night,” drawled Damian as he exited the Batmobile. “He’s so idiotic that a child could—“

Damian went pale as the unknown raised her head, a sharp look in her eye.

“Wood.”

“Al Ghul.”

“ _Wayne._ ”

The tension in the air was tangible.

“You know each other?”

Bruce dimly noted his eldest joining the exchange and turned his attention towards the stand-off. He needed information. _Something. Anything._

“She’s League,” spat Damian. “One of my grandfather’s finest. Prudence Wood.”


	5. The Stand-Off

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m going to try and post two chapters per day I write
> 
> Please leave a comment! I love them!

Nightwing instantly palmed his eskrima sticks and Robin drew his katana as Bruce merely tensed and shifted his stance.

In response to the Bats bristling, the assassin simply grinned, feral and cruel and she responded to Damian’s announcement.

“Don’t make me laugh, Al Ghul. The league barely exists anymore. _I_ work for the man who crippled it.”

_The league? Barely exists? Crippled?_

The words were a balm against the raging fear and anger within him. Damian’s heart leapt with hope but he kept his composure, letting out a derisive snort.

“Do you think us fools, Wood? My grandfather would never allow the league to fall and none can best him.”

“None  _could_ best him. Past tense, brat. My new boss did a fairly excellent job of it. Blew up like four centuries of progress in a single day.” Wood’s eyes glazed over as if recalling a fond memory, “There was so much fire. I do like fire.”

_Good lord where did his grandfather find these people._

“No matter how many bases you burned down, the League will persist.”

“Yeah but when you combine it with a massive cyberattack that drains most of the League’s funds, a recruitment drive that steals half his ninjas, and a careful dismantling of its reputation in the right circles around the globe, they’ve got to scuttle into the shadows for the foreseeable future.”

_What?_

Damian’s heart pounded in his ears as his grip on his weapon faltered.

_Could it really be true? Was the League really gone?_

“Who could’ve possibly—“

  
Ding!

_The elevator! Pennyworth!_

Damian panicked as the doors rattled open. Wood was closer to the doors than he was. Father’s servant, although formidable would not stand a chance. He had to hurry, if Pennyworth—

“Miss Prudence,” the old man greeted warmly in the tone he reserved for family. “How wonderful to see you again.”

The assassin dropped her defensive stance and turned her attention towards the butler. “Alfred, always a pleasure.”

There was a clatter as Nightwing dropped his eskrima. Pitiful.

“You know her too?!”

“But of course, Master Dick. What are you all doing standing about like you’re going to attack at a moment’s notice? That is not how we greet guests in this household.”

Baffled and chastened, the bats dropped their stances and exchanged glances.

“Alfred?” ventured his father. “That’s an assassin.”  


Father appeared to be suffering from a stroke. 

“So are almost a quarter of Master Tim’s employees, Master Bruce. Given that you prance about in what the kids refer to these days as a ‘furry costume,’ I don’t believe you have room to judge.”

Nightwing shoved his fist in his mouth as he attempted to smother his amusement over Pennyworth’s fair comparison between father and a furry. Pitiful. Damian was far more skilled in concealing his amusement.

Wait a second.  


_Did Pennyworth just say—_

“Tim employs ninjas?” Father still appeared baffled. “Why is he filling Wayne Enterprises with ninjas?” 

_If Drake was Wood’s employer did that mean—_

Alfred tutted, “Of course he’s not filling Wayne Enterprises with ninjas, Master Bruce. I was referring to Master Tim’s network.”

_Had Drake really—_

“Miss Prudence would you like—”

“—Did Drake dismantle the League?” Damian burst out.

Wood turned, every muscle filled with that lithe predatory grace, a pale imitation of Black Bat’s conduct but disturbing nonetheless. She smirked at him for a long moment before returning her attention to Pennyworth and following him into the elevator.

“I’d love a cup of tea, Alfred. No one makes a proper cuppa like you.”

She and Pennyworth chatted politely as the doors closed, leaving a colony of dumbfounded bars in the cave behind them. 

“What just happened?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Personally my favorite part is “There was so much fire. I do like fire.” I say that in real life a lot.


	6. The Reveal

What the hell was happening?!

Dick felt super out of the loop and he didn’t like it one bit.

The cave was so quiet it seemed like even the literal bats among the stalactites had gone silent. Dick glanced around to see if anyone else had a clue as to what was going on.

Bruce pale as a ghost and had gone back to staring at the light above the door to the medbay. Abruptly he turned, his cape sweeping about him as he stalked to the batcomputer.

_Goddamn Bruce and his emotional incompetence._

Damian was strangely silent as the clacking of the keyboard filled the cave, staring at the elevator doors with a detached expression. His mind looked like it was running a mile a minute.

Dick should probably go hug him.

As he reached down to grab his eskrima before comforting Damian, the babybat also swept across the cave to stand at Batman’s side beside the computer.

Dick got the feeling that his cuddles would not be welcome here.

Damian and B had much closer relationships with the league than he did. He understood that they needed to check this out for themselves.

Dick needed to do _something_.

Leslie had banned them from the surgical suite and B would be down here if she needed anything. That left him two potential courses of action: comforting Damian or eavesdropping on Alfred and Prudence.

A quick assessment of Damian’s body language had him striding towards the locker rooms to strip off his costume and head up to the manor.

He had to know more.

Alfred and Prudence were settled in the sitting room over a cup of tea, chatting.

It made a funny scene. A prim and proper butler sitting calmly beside a scarred, butch lady with a shaved head, a multitude of visible weapons, and heavy Kevlar armor. 

“—reminds me of London.”

“Ah but the difference is that here, the clouds are more pollution than vapor and the rain is more acid than water.”

_Are they seriously discussing the weather?_

“Master Dick? Do come out from behind that bookshelf. Lurking in the background is not the proper way to involve yourself in a conversation.”

There go his hopes of eavesdropping.

Dick walked out and settled on the armrest of Alfred’s armchair, “Sorry, Alfie. I didn’t want to disturb you.”

Prudence chuckled, “From what I hear, disturbing is kind of what you bats do.”

Dick eyed her. The way she stared straight at him, unafraid and... disapproving? Why would she disapprove of him? She’s the goddamned assassin.

“So, Prudence,” he chirped with the usual Dick Grayson charm, knowing Alfred would ban him if he displayed any of Nightwing’s malice, “how do you know Tim?”

Prudence grinned at him, “we worked together for much of last year. We’re what I believe most people would refer to as friends.”

That timeline tracked. He hadn’t seen Tim much of last year.

Still, that was a weird way to phrase that sentence. “If most people would refer to your relationship as ‘friends’ what would you refer to it as?”

“Brothers-in-arms, comrades, allies, dumbasses who dragged each other across the desert as they were both bleeding out, heist buddies, overthrowers of our former employer, fellow members of organless anonymous,” Prudence’s voice grew more and more sarcastic as she continued while Dick grew paler and paler. “And please. It’s Pru. Or Wood. Or sometimes _god-please-don’t-hurt-me_. Prudence is an awful name.”

She grinned like a shark but Dick was still hung up on her list. Even Alfie had gone still. Dick got the impression that he hadn’t known half the stuff she’d just spouted.

“Organless Anonymous?” he questioned.

For the first time that day, the assassin looked shocked. “Shit,” she raked her fingers across her scalp as she studied him. “You don’t know.”

Within an instant the tea was carefully deposited on the table as the assassin bolted over to the cave entrance, rotated the hands to the correct time, and disappeared into the cave.

Dick vaulted over the furniture as he hurried after her.

Dimly Dick noted that she knew the combination and registered that Tim had to trust her deeply for such information.

He got to the floor of the cave right after she did.

Pru hurried over to where Red Robin’s gear sat after they’d shredded it to get him on the table. She pulled out his gauntlet and stuck it on her hand.

_No way._

Not a single member of the bat clan had access to Tim’s gauntlet. That thing was more heavily encrypted than Oracle’s servers and keyed to precise biometric signatures.

Babs had once spent three weeks trying to crack it on a dare.

Pru tapped it once and it booted up instantly.

A bit more clicking and whatever she saw on the display made her swear so colorfully, Jason’d be impressed. 

At this point, all eyes in the cave were on her. Silent. Still. Staring. 

When she began sprinting towards the Operating Room, everyone burst into action. 

“You can’t go in there,” Bruce said firmly as his gauntlet clamped around her arm, “Leslie needs to focus”

“You don’t understand!” Pru hissed angrily. “The doc needs to know something if she’s going to fix him right. Something the dumbass didn’t put in his medical file.”

Bruce’s grip on her didn’t falter, “what could possibly—“

“He doesn’t have a spleen!” she shouted.

Taking advantage of the way his focus faltered in surprise at her outburst, she slammed her heel into his foot and pulled her arm away, disappearing into the surgical suite. 


End file.
